What do you think of solid copper bullets? Do you use them? Think they are good/bad? Will they become more prevalent? Will bullets containing led eventually be banned everywhere?

I hunt with Barnes or Cutting Edge bullets. I’m not anti-lead, but they work and work well.

They may require slightly different coal measurements than you might be used to. They are more expensive, but for hunting they are the smallest part of the overall cost. You have to be sure you pick a bullet that’s engineered for your velocity for them to work as designed.

I’ve not tried the GMX but I hear they work ok, too.

I load copper CNC machined bullets for EDC for .380, 9mm, .38 Special and .38 S&W. I have CNC hollow points for EDC in .223 too. I also have cast zinc loaded for 300BO and .44 magnum and Special. I still shoot plenty of lead but when I want a bullet that will give me pass through capability I use CNC copper or cast zinc.

Why would you want your bullet to "Pass through" the assailant in a defensive situation? I am assuming the EDC part, but i would want my EDC round to stop within the threat personally.

I shot my first deer with a lead bullet about 12 years ago. It blew up in one of the front quarters like a paintball and I was finding shards of lead three muscles away in every direction. Granted I was young and it was a shitty bullet but that was the end of shooting lead at live critters for me.

Since then I've been using Barnes TMZs in my muzzleloader and have shot two deer and two elk with them. Both deer and one elk crumpled up on the spot and that other elk is a long story that isn't germane to weighing the merits of copper bullets. In every case including the deer I found my bullet completely intact and perfectly petaled under the far skin. Efficient, deadly.

The last several years I have hunted modern firearm in Wyoming. Early on I had some custom 8x57 with 160gr Barnes TTSXs. Turned the lights out on two deer and an antelope at distances out to 260m. Clean exit wounds, mega lung damage.

Later I switched to a 7x64 and in aggregate it's taken 6 deer and 3 lopes, all one shot kills at distances out to 355m using 145gr LRXs. I only had one petal come off of one of those bullets and make an unintended wound channel.

I like Barnes because I trust them and their velocity floor for reliable expansion tends to be a couple hundo lower than competing gilding metal products like the Hornady GMX. I send those LRXs at 2790ft/s. I draw the line at 400m on live critters but ballistically I should be able to take it to 550m and still get reliable expansion with that load.

It took me a while to find just the right load and have my groups tighten up. I am new to reloading and likely this is part of it. That being said, non tox bullets seem to be widely regarded as having small nodes where load development is concerned.

TL:DR copper bullets are clean and effective and not nearly the handicap sourpusses on the internet make them out to be, unless you want to kill shit that is really far away. I think you should go for it.

Good luck!

That is easy to answer usrifle so I can shoot the assailant right through their car door if I have to....... both inner and outer door skins and the rolled down window glass. When you miss you are responsible for whatever that miss hits anyway. Those of you that hunt if your hunting loads are found in the game animal you did something wrong as you want an entrance and exit wound for the animal to bleed out......same thing with assailant.

I do NOT want a T&T on a shitbag, I DO want it stayin' in him/her.

Barrier blind loads, hell yeah but overpenetratuon, NO-GO.

We need ALL that meager energy from a pistol round (or even rifle round, for that matter) to stay IN the target, and we don't want that projectile sailin' off at who knows what, it still has a lawyer attached to it.

Or so I was taught.

All the deer I've shot with my crossbow had the bolt stuck in and plugging the hole. All bled internally and died in seconds.

I only shoot nonlead stuff on my property because I have young children that like to play in the dirt and lots of chickens that will peck at anything shiny.

Those of you that are concerned about pass throughs possibly hitting someone else have forgotten your basic handgun rules and it is more likely that it will be your mis that hits someone. In all manner of shooting including defensive the five rules apply. In this case it is number 4 that comes more into play especially with CNC or zinc projectiles.

1. ALWAYS KEEP YOUR FIREARM POINTED IN A SAFE DIRECTION.


2. TREAT ALL FIREARMS AS IF THEY WERE LOADED.


3. KEEP YOUR TRIGGER FINGER OUTSIDE THE GUARD AND OFF OF THE TRIGGER UNTIL YOU ARE READY TO FIRE.

4. BE CERTAIN OF YOUR TARGET, YOUR LINE OF FIRE, AND WHAT LIES BEYOND YOUR TARGET.

5. ALWAYS WEAR APPROPRIATE EYE AND EAR PROTECTION WHEN SHOOTING AND MAINTAINING YOUR FIREARM.

I’m going to have to disagree.
1. A precise shot to the vitals of any animal will kill it. With out the need for pass through.
2. Energy dump does not happen if the bullet passes through (a living creature )

Look back on the development of the .45 ACP

Every ungulate I've ever shot had plenty of room in the chest cavity for blood (if I did it right) and plenty of room for blood in the abdomen (if I only did it mostly right).

I don't hunt the long pig so I'll defer to expertise there. At any rate machined copper pistol bullets sound fearsome for use in the built environment.

Copper bullets kick ass.

I will add that coyotes I've shot with fmj, often had to be shot again to go down, as one or more rounds overpenetrating didn't do enough immediate damage.

One's I've shot with my "load #3" (Hornady 55gr SP over 24.5 gr H335) have dropped right then, one shot, done, no exit.

Solid copper doesn't allow for a quick kill, therefore sort of inhumane way of killing an animal.

I think it may depend on the choice of copper bullets. I've killed 16 critters with coppers in the last ten years and all but two of them were either boom-flops or dead within 70m of running. The two that took a little more time were due to crappy shot placement and not the fault of the bullet.

This year I was on Barnes LRXs and every shot was a clean pencil hole going in and a quarter-sized exit wound out the far side of the chest, sometimes with a nice streamer of lung tissue with it.

Certainly they're not all created equal. What kind have you been using that didn't measure up?

I'm with hartcreek on this one. Spent my whole life hunting and sure, shit will die with internal bleeding but much better with 2 holes leaking. Not to mention a hell of a lot less bloodshot meat if a less than ideal shot placement when the animals tissue is not having to absorb 100% of the bullets ft/lbs. Especially when using overexpanding bullets in magnum calibers.

As far as assailants, it depends what you're carrying but with the modern trends of 380,9,40,and 45 compact plastic crap being preferred those calibers are going to have so little remaining velocity/energy after going through 2 layers of clothing and 10+" of flesh to do much damage afterward. And that's in the extremely unlikely event that there's someone DIRECTLY behind your line of fire in the miniscule likely hood that you'll ever shoot someone anyway. I carry 4" 357 or 44 nearly everywhere I go.

Let's not lose sight of the fact that all the underpowered frangible fancy looking "self defense" ammo out there is a very new thing in the world of firearms. It comes in the shiniest boxes and looks the fanciest and has the highest cost. All marketing bullshit. Ammo companies have your number folks!